Floral corsage and fastener



Dec. 17, 1968 T. H. BoRTHwlcK 3,416,195

FLORAL CORSAGE AND FASTENER ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,416,195 FLORAL CORSAGE AND FASTENER Theodore H. Borthwick, 230 Fairfax Drive, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27104 Filed May 31, 1967, Ser. No. 642,468 Claims. (Cl. 24-5) ABSTRACT 0F THE DISCLOSURE The combination of a floral corsage and a pair of mutually attractive magnetic bodies for fastening the corsage to an article of clothing for display as a personal ornament without penetration of the fabric thereof.

A significant portion of the business done by florists in the United States involves floral corsages, supplied by the florist for use as personal ornaments. Heretofore, in order to permit fastening of corsages in appropriate positions for display, ilorists have supplied corsage pins with floral corsages. Such corsage pins `are conventionally formed as sturdy steel straight pins, of sufficient length, strength, and sharpness to penetrate the iloral corsage and the fabric of an article of clothing to which the corsage is to be secured. It is readily apparent that the features required for satisfactory use of a corsage pin additionally make such a pin dangerous both to a person Wearing a corsage and to the clothing to which the corsage is attached.

More particularly, care must be exercised in positioning the corsage for display and inserting the corsage pin, in order to avoid accidental penetration of the body of the wearer or portions thereof. Further, in the event that foce is accidentally applied to the corsage while fastened in position for display, the fabric of the article of clothing to which it is attached may be ripped or torn. In any event, with a tightly woven and/ or smooth finish fabric, the holes resulting from penetration of the fabric with the corsage pin may be obvious for a substantial period of time after the corsage has been removed and thus detract from the appearance of the garment.

While these problems have existed heretofore, the common corsage pin has presented the most readily available and economically acceptable solution for the necessity of providing means to fasten a corsage to a article of clothing. With these dilculties in mind, it is an object of the present invention to provide, in combination with a corsage, a fastening means which so improves user safety and convenience as to become attractive to a florist when compared to the conventional corsage pin. In realizing this object of the present invention, a pair of mutually attractive magnetic bodies are provided and one of the bodies is secured to the floral corsage in such a manner as to be concealed from view during the normal display use of the corsage, with the pair functioning to grip the fabric of an article of clothing so as to fasten the corsage in the desired position for display as a personal ornament.

Some of the objects 1and advantages of the invention having been stated, others will appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE l is a perspective view of a floral corsage in accordance with the present invention as fastened to an article of clothing in position for display as a personal ornament;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged section view through the article of clothing and corsage of FIGURE 1, taken substantially along the line 2-2 in that figure, and

FIGURE 3 is a rear elevation of the corsage of FIG- URES l and 2.

ice

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, a floral corsage is there shown, and gener-ally indicated at 10, which is 4fastened to an article of clothing 11 for display as a personal ornament. In accordance with the present invention, means yare provided in combination with the corsage 10 for fastening the same to the article of clothing without penetration of the fabric of the article of clothing, to thereby avoid the difficulties and dangers heretofore present in the use of conventional corsage pins. The iloral corsage includes a plurality of flowers 12a, 12b, 12e` and 12d, each including a corresponding stem portion 14a, 14b, 14C and 14d. The stem portions are individually protected and secured in place together by a wrapping of stem tape 16, as is conventional in the assembly of a floral corsage. In the illustrated embodiment, the oral corsage 10 additionally includes a ribbon 18 and -a fern 19 or other decorative element.

Secured to the corsage 10 is one of a pair of mutually attractive Amagnetic bodies 20 and 21, which are the means for fastening the corsage Iin accordance with the present invention. As brought out more fully hereinafter, the one body 20 secured to the corsage preferably is bound to the stem portions 14a-14d of the owers 12a-12d by a wrapping of stem tape 16, while the other body 21 is normally held in engagement with the one body 20 by magnetic force and is readily separable therefrom. In vaccordance with the present invention, the corsage 10 including in combination therewith the mutually attractive magnetic bodies 20 and 21 is provided by ya florist to a user, and the user thereafter separates the other body 21 from the one body 20. Upon positioning the corsage and the one body 20 in contact with exterior face of the fabric 24 of the article of clothing 11, the user then positions the other body 21 in contact with the opposing interior face of the fabric 24, and in alignment with the one body 20. The magnetic attraction of the pair of bodies 20 and 21 would thus result in the fabric 24 being gripped therebetween and the corsage 10 being thus releasably secured on the exterior of the article of clothing 11.

Preferably, and in accord-ance with the present invention, the pair of mutually attractive magnetic bodies 20 yand 21 are both permanent magnets, such as magnetized alnico alloy, so that a maximum magnetic attractive force may be obtained therebetween consistent with a minimum permissible Weight of the pair of bodies. The maximization of the magnetic attractive force results in a maximum gripping engagement of the fabric 24, so as to assure that the corsage 10 may not be accidentally displaced or loosened from the article of clothing. In order to `avoid detracting from the appearance of the corsage 10, the one body 20 is secured to the stem portions 14a-14d of the flowers 12a-12d on the rearward side thereof, so as to be shielded from view by the main body of the corsage 10 when the same is positioned for display. Further, the one body 20 is preferably located above the center of gravity of the cors-age 10, so that the corsage readily remains in an upright position as desired for display. While illustrated with the flower in an upwardly directed position, it is to Ibe understood that the orientation of the blossom portion of the flowers may be whatever is chosen as appropriate for the particular corsage designed for combination with the fastening means of the present invention.

As mentioned heretofore, the one body 20 preferably is secured to the stem portions 14a-14d by means of a wrapping of stem tape 16. Preferably, the one body 20 is formed with a lreduced thickness channel portion transversely thereof, in order to accommodate a length of stem winding tape to be wound thereabout. Through the provision of reduced thickness channel portion, the stem wrapping tape may enter into the channel `and retain the one 4body 20 in the desired location in the corsage to assure proper display relationship of the Corsage as positioned on the article of clothing 11.

In the drawings and specification, there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention, and although specic terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being delined in the claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with a floral Corsage including a flower having a stem portion, means for fastening the corsage to an article of clothing for display as a personal ornament without penetration of the fabric thereof and comprising a pair of mutually attractive magnetic bodies and means wound about the stern portion of the flower for binding one of said bodies to the Corsage, said one body being positionable in contact with the exterior face of the fabric as the corsage is located for display and the other of said bodies normally being held in engagement with said one body by magnetic force and being separable therefrom and positionable in contact with the opposing interior face of the fabric and alignment with said one body to again be magnetically attracted thereto, so that the fabric is gripped between said pair of bodies and the Corsage is thus releasably secured on the exterior of the article of clothing.

2. The combination according to claim 1 wherein each of said pair of bodies is a permanent magnet so that a maximum magnetic attractive force is obtained therebetween consistent with a minimum permissible weight of said pair of bodies.

3. The combination according to claim 2 wherein said one lbody is bound to the stem portion of the ower on the rearward side thereof so as to be shielded from view by the corsage when the same is positioned for display.

4. The combination according to claim 3 wherein said one body is located above the center of gravity of the Corsage so that the Corsage readily remains upright as positioned for display.

5. The combination according to claim 4 wherein said one body is formed with a reduced thickness channel transverse thereof and said binding means comprises a length of stern wrapping tape wound -about the stern portion of the flower and said one body to secure the same together and wherein said tape enters into said channel to retain said one body in position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 149,897 6/ 1948 McFadyen.

1,932,143 10/1933 Piercy. 2,592,395 4/1952 Cummings. 2,693,654 ll/l954 Clark. 2,712,191 7/1955 Hillenbrand. 2,728,964 1/ 1956 Baird 24-5 2,844,291 7/ 195 8 McPheeters.

DONALD A. GRIFFIN, Primary Examiner. 

